Nervous System
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Award Plaques for CMU’s STUDIO for Creative Inquiry
🕑 Added 2025-03-31 15:45:37 +0000 UTCWe recently created a set of sculptural award plaques for a new fund at The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University. The Moore Family Fund for underwriting creativity, knowledge, experimentation, research and yumminess will fund antidisciplinary undergraduate research (learn more here). Dan Moore (a senior technical artist at NVIDIA) commissioned us to design a unique set of perpetual award plaques that will hold the names of recipients over the next 75 years.
Rethinking the Award Plaque
Typical award plaques are simple rectangular slabs with a grid of metal nameplates, each engraved year after year. We wanted to break away from that rigid structure and explore a more organic, cellular design. Carved from rich walnut, these plaques have flowing, sculptural contours that evoke natural growth processes. Instead of a traditional grid, the black nameplates are arranged within an intricate, algorithmically generated pattern—reminiscent of plant cells or the skeletal structures of microscopic radiolaria.
To make them extra special (and meet the request to make them fancy), we adorned the plaques with intricate maple inlays, creating a striking contrast that highlights the delicate cellular network. The result is a fusion of nature and computation, celebrating creativity and complexity—perfectly fitting for an award dedicated to interdisciplinary exploration.
Read the complete story behind the plaques including fabrication details and photos in our blog: https://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/blog/?p=9778
